Melting Ice
by Minexpert6947
Summary: Where's Ice Bear? What's happened?
1. Chapter 1

Light filtered in through Grizz's Curtains, illuminating the dust mites that were swilled through the air by his snores. Grizz slowly rolled over, right onto his discarded laptop that had been left on charge, on a page with a video he had loaded up. As he did, the video played, blaring mewling kittens into his ear. On full Volume. Grizz launched out of bed like a springboard, yelling at the rude realizing all was well, he went over to the laptop and paused the video and checked the time. And paused.  
"Strange..." he muttered. The Laptop hadn't been charging, not for a while. It read as being at about 25% battery. Grizz Shrugged it off, and trudged over to the bathroom. He pulled his toothbrush out of his cup, and squirted some toothpaste onto it. He drew it across his teeth and, hearing the door squeak, he looked round at Panda, who was opening the door, bleary-eyed and squinting.  
"Where are my contacts?" he asked groggily. Grizz carried on brushing. Panda walked up behind him, groping for his contacts. Grizz was still brushing as Panda fumbled to put them in. Grizz spat the paste out as Panda clipped his case for his contacts shut. He looked around.  
"Hey, where's Ice Bear?" he asked. "He's normally bathing in some ice right now.." Grizz looked round, noting his absence. He thought for a second.  
"He probably got up early!" he exclaimed. Panda gave a look of acknowledgement with a sound of agreement.

Both bears walked into the integrated Kitchen and Dining room to find Ice Bear's spot at the counter woefully empty. The Bears tried to reason why he might not be in his spot.  
"Did Captain Craboo nip him again?"  
"No, he's still in his tank..."  
"Maybe he went to the mall..."  
"He went there yesterday, what else could he be getting?"  
"I dunno, he doesn't really talk much.." Grizz scratched his chin. "Well, let's go to the Ice Rink, just in case, and we'll go from there..."  
Panda nodded. "Let's go"

Grizz trudged through the front, huffing. Panda was close behind him, leaning on the door, breathing heavily.  
"Y'know," he panted, "I never really noticed how much Ice Bear carries us..." Grizz replied only by huffing.  
"I need a drink" he managed, "With Ice! Lot's of it!" sweat squeezing out from his already dripping fur. Panda shuffled into the kitchen.  
"I'll make it," he wheezed, "Pulp or No Pulp?"  
"N-No Pulp"  
Grizz collapsed on the couch, breathing heavily. Suddenly a yell came from the kitchen. Grizz rushed to his feet, dashing into the kitchen, only to find Panda, already crying, next to his unconscious little brother, spilling out from the freezer amidst a puddle of water.


	2. Chapter 2

Grizz quickly rushed to Ice Bears side.  
"Panda, call a hospital!" He exclaimed, worried for his friend. Panda pulled out his phone about to dial but paused.  
"I c-c-can't! You had my phone blocked from 911, remember!" He cried.  
"Then call someone with a car!" Panda stood, flustered. Then he shouted.  
"I'll call Chloe!" He cried desperately, "Her parent's can come pick us up!" He dialed the number frantically, fur standing on end.  
Grizz looked around at the flooded kitchen.  
"How did this happen?" he asked himself. He looked at the fridge, still half open, the light, _off_. " _There was no power... but why wasn't there...?_ " Grizz cast his memory back. His Laptop, low on charge... Grizz got up and ran past Panda, who had started to splutter to Chloe over the phone. Grizz dashed to the fuse box, and yanked it open. All the fuses had melted, all because of him using the power all last night... Grizz fell to his knees, hit by a wave of merciless guilt. " _I did this..._ " he thought, over and over. " _It's my fault..._ " Panda yelled to him from the other room.  
"They're coming as fast as they can!"  
" _He could die..._ " Grizz thought to himself, mind whirling with undesirable thoughts. " _It'd be my fault_ "  
"Grizz?" Yelled Panda. "Where'd you go?"  
" _He can't die..._ " thought Grizz, leaving Panda's frantic question unanswered, " _Not from a little heat..._ "  
"Grizz!" yelled Panda, appearing at the end of the hall.  
" _I should die, It's my fault..."_ Grizzed offered his thoughts, tears beating a new track across the fur of his muzzle for newer ones. Panda stumbled to the end of the hall, falling onto Grizz in a tight embrace, whispering in his ear.  
"It's gonna be alright" To this, Grizz started sobbing, shoulders heaving for his brother in the kitchen.

Chloe arrived in about 10 minutes after Panda's call, skipping one of her university classes to get home and tell her parents what happened. Her Parent's were quick to bundle her in the backseat of the car, and drive off, making for the Cave-House. Panda helped Chloe's father heave Ice Bear in the backseat of the car, squeezing in Chloe, Grizz and Panda in with him. It then took another 10 minutes to arrive at the hospital, where nurses quickly transferred him to a wheelchair, rushing him through reception, and towards the "Large Animals Veterinarian", closely followed by Chloe, Grizz and Panda. A Paramedic stopped them at a door which Ice Bear was rushed through.  
"I'm Sorry, you can't come through here, I'm Afraid.." She said. Panda started to cry.  
"That's his family!" argued Chloe.  
"Nobody else is allowed past this point, I'm sorry." She said calmingly. "If you like, I can come and tell you when he's awake, if you wait in the waiting room."  
"Okay, please do," replied Grizz, still weak from guilt. He trudged back to the room, and waited. He waited past dark, with Panda and Chloe sleeping on his shoulders, cheeks still red from crying. He waited, past the time when the waiting room emptied of everyone except him and his companions. His mind was still whirling. He wanted to punch himself, for allowing his stupidity to end up here. He wanted to cry, to try and allow himself some peace. He wanted to leave, because the tension weighed him down heavy. He wanted to die, for allowing such a horrible thing to happen to such a good brother. But most of all, he thought.

" _Please Ice Bear. Please don't die._ "


	3. Chapter 3

The world seemed to hush, waiting for the news on Ice Bear to return to the group. Grizz stared out the window, the night scenario causing a reflection to be cast back to him. What he saw was a unkempt bear, with red eyes, bags forming under them with two innocent souls sitting next to a guilty one. He got up and slowly lowered Chloe and Panda onto adjourning seat, not wanting to wake them. He walked to the door, casting one last look at the bear and the child, sleeping peacefully. He cast his thoughts to Ice Bear, who was sure to have wires and tubes entering his body, breathing for him. He closed his eyes, hastily wiping a tear away. Then walked back over to Panda and pulled out Panda's phone, leaving him a note on it.

Panda was shaken awake by a nurse, the same that had stopped him and the others from entering the room. He yawned at the arrival, and questioned her, word slurring with tiredness.  
"whaisit?" He asked. Looking round at Chloe, who was also waking up. The Nurse was quick to respond.  
"It's Ice Bear! He's awake!" Panda was instantly alert.  
"Can we see him?"  
"Yeah, follow me!" The Nurse pulled Panda up and led him through a maze of corridors. She swiped an access card, and entered and patients ward. The receptionist cast her a questioning look, but she cast it away with "they're with me". She walked through the ward and pulled back a curtain, revealing the polar bear with a single IV line next to his bed. He looked up weakly.  
"What happened to Ice Bear?" He croaked weakly. Panda began to cry from happiness while Chloe had to stop herself from jumping on the bed and hugging the sick, but very much alive, bear.  
"Why is Panda crying?" he asked in his monotone voice, but to Panda, it never sounded sweeter.  
"You were passed out, I found you lying on the floor of the kitchen. We though you might... that you might -" Panda stopped, unable to go on.  
"Ice Bear won't die" Said Ice Bear, Knowing what Panda mean't. "But, Ice Bear has a question" Panda looked up.  
"Where is Grizz?"

Clouds were beginning to roll in as Grizz left the convenience store, with a small plastic bag in his paw. He trudged through the dark streets, mourning for his brother, who, not to Grizz's knowledge, was still alive. He exited the city and began to shuffle through the forest that held his and his sibling's home, as droplets began to fall from the sky. Grizz either didn't notice or did't care, as he didn't even try to shelter his head, even as the rain grew harder and harder, falling onto the back of his neck. He walked up to the Cave-House, already drenched. He opened the door, and walked into the kitchen, casting a long look at the water, still collected on the floor. Once again, he saw his reflection, and this time, he saw a disheveled, depressed, but above all, lonely bear. He opened the freezer door the rest of the way, and sat down in it, allowing his behind to get wet by the water already collected there. He opened the plastic back and took out a bottle of alcohol. He cracked it open, and slipped quite a few pills down it's neck. The beverage started to froth and spill down his front. Grizz opened his mouth, and drank. He kept drinking, despite the coughing and retching at the terrible taste. He turned in the freezer, sitting like Ice Bear would. Slowly, he let all the emotions wash over him. The guilt, the sadness, the anger, the despair, all of it. It was all let out in the form of a single, murky tear, slipping out of the bears eye, just before he closed them both.

Panda was riding in the back of Chloe's Parent's car, Looking out the window, looking for Grizz. Chloe turned to him.  
"Panda! You should put a missing note on Facebook or something!" Panda thought for a second.  
"That's a good idea," he agreed, pulling out his phone and unlocking it. "What the?.." Chloe looked at him quizzically.  
"There's a note... From Grizz..." He explained.  
Chloe leaned over. "Well, read it out then!" Panda began to voice Grizz's words. [start listening to this before you go on]

" _Dear Panda & Chloe,_  
 _When you read this, I'll probably have died. I was the one to blame for Ice Bear's death, and I must pay. Word's cannot express my guilt, and it crushes me. If I were to see his funeral, or worse, his body, there's no telling what I'd do. If you are reading this, you'll be able to find my body back at the cave, in the freezer. I will have drank some alcohol, spiked with multiple tablets of bleach. I must apologize to Ice Bear, and this is the only way I can do so. There is no other way I can see how I would be able to do this. I'm so sorry. I caused you so much stress, by simply not turning off a laptop. I caused so much stress to you and Ice Bear, all throughout my life, from when we were kids. Remember the Box Factory? I'm so sorry Chloe, that I made you go out and make friends, even when you didn't want to. But most of all, I'm sorry Ice Bear, I am entirely at fault, and my last hope is that I might see you again in the afterlife, to apologize to you. It's not like I'll be going anywhere._

 _I love you so much,_

 _Grizz_ "


	4. Epilogue

The sky dropped it's glittering tears, peppering leave's in the tree's and bushes with a cacophony of sadness, raining sorrow on a collection of black umbrella, held by people dressed in black. They grouped together closely, shivering in the winds chill. In the center of the group, was a dark oak box, suspended above a deep hole, and adorned with a a pile of white flowers arranged in a wreath. The mood of the gatherers matched that of the sky; Solemn, and respecting. A picture of a brown bear stood on a easel, with yet more flowers, that matched that of the box, swaying gently in the summer rain. The group wasn't large either, only 6 people, including 2 other bears, a Polar bear, and a Panda. Both of the sat opposite the oak box, inside of it being their deceased. The Panda, who's shared the name of his species, stood, and spoke, quickly, and fully, like he was going to burst into tears at any second.  
"Grizz, you were..." He paused collecting himself, "You were the best brother anyone could ever ask for. You were always there to help me up if I fell, to set me back on the right track. Call me selfish, but I would sacrifice, anything at all, just for another hour to be spent with when we were still young kids, living in that cardboard box, you were always doing your utmost best to me and your brother upright, to keep us happy, to keep us moving forward. And for that: I'll never let you go. This isn't goodbye Grizz, this is see ya later, because you'll never die, not as long as I'm still alive." The panda sat down, staring into the ground intently,as the Polar bear got up. Another brother of the deceased, this one didn't speak. Instead, he walked around the Box, keeled before the tombstone, and gently rested his head on the tombstone; on the name "Grizz", and shut his eyes. Unseen to everyone, he allowed a single tear to escape, blending in with the sky, becoming one in a million. The Polar bear got back to his feet, bowed over the tombstone, and returned to his seat, a strong message sent, accompanied with no words. Finally, a young girl got up. With a reassuring look from her parents, she stood on her seat, in order to be seen among the darkness of umbrellas. Unlike the Panda, she spoke with strength in her words.  
"Grizz, I haven't know you long, can't be longer than a month yet,but in that time, you've made more of an impact on me than almost anyone else in my life," The girls voice started to grow hoarse,a "You were among m first friends," she looked at the other two bear, who nodded, easing her on, "And you helped me along to get some new friends for me, to help me through college, and for that, I can't simply see you as a friend anymore," the girls voice began to grow hoarse with lumps in her throat, "From now on, we're family, even if this family bond is broken by death" The girl started to sob when she took breath, "And I swear Grizz, I'll never forget you. I'm going to pass college, and change the world. And I'm going to do it for you you, Big Brother." Tears started to streak down her face, "I'm going to make sure the world knows your name, "Grizz", and that the child prodigy would have been absolutely nothing without him" The girl sat down again, hugging the Polar bear tightly, who put one arm around her, and allowed her to soak him with tears, stony-faced as the lowered the box into the ground, covering it with dirt, returning the wood to it's creator. The Polar bear, with nothing to stare at, instead stared into space, facing the point where his brother had laid, long after the guests had left, long after the night had fallen and grew old. Only then did he allow tears to fall as the Polar bear, shakily speaking for the first time in his life.  
"Ice Bear is sorry, Brother"


End file.
